20
votes
How will voting by mail work for you?
Are you able to vote by mail? Are you signed up to do it? Would you actually put your ballot in a mailbox or drop it off somewhere?
Are you able to vote by mail? Are you signed up to do it? Would you actually put your ballot in a mailbox or drop it off somewhere?
Given the recent (and almost certainly upcoming) shenanigans at the USPS, I would strongly recommend using a ballot dropbox if you're able to. The more of us that are able to do that, the better: it's less likely your vote will get lost, and it also frees up resources for others who are unable to use a dropbox.
For our most recent election on Aug 4 we got our ballots by mail about 3 weeks in advance, and it included a note in several locations strongly encouraging people to not mail it, and instead come by and put it in the dropbox. Was quick and easy drive about 2 miles on a Saturday, walked in, dropped it, walked out. Easy.
I've voted by mail for years, but I usually don't put a stamp on it. I walk to the local polling location and drop it off to get the "I voted" sticker.
Last time was just at the start of the pandemic. I was a little nervous doing this and masks weren't common yet, but it wasn't crowded and I was in and out very quickly. With a mask it should be fine.
But this is in California so I'm wondering how it will go in other places.
Been registered as an absentee voter in Los Angeles County for a decade and I have always dropped off my ballots at the post office mailbox. As far as I recall, my ballots have always included a "I voted" sticker, so one could wear them even if one never returned the ballot (though by law, they would end one's absentee voter status and revert to a regular voter status). Recently, this year, I noticed the return envelopes have been pre-paid by the County government so I don't even need to stamp them.
I do the exact same
Initially, the courts in my state ruled that anyone could request to vote by mail simply from fear of the pandemic, so I voted by mail for the primary (US Senate) and local elections last week. The day before primary election day, the state supreme court overturned the initial ruling, saying that voting during the pandemic posed only a "moderate" rather than severe risk, and now you must be exposed to the coronavirus or caring for someone who has it to get a mail-in ballot. This has resulted in a ton of people signing up for the Church of Universal Suffrage and using the religious exemption to vote by mail in the general.
For me it won't, as I've moved to a state that only allows absentees and people who are disabled to request vote by mail ballots. Technically, they don't check so I could still do it, but I don't feel like lying on paperwork like that would be a good idea. I plan to arrive early in the morning to an Early Voting polling place instead, wearing my mask.
I'll drop it in a ballot dropbox, assuming they use them again, otherwise I'll have to figure it out.
Same way it does every election for me (my state is one of the universal vote-by-mail ones, and mail voting was the most popular option before it became universal here). I'll vote, then drop it in the county ballot drop box closest to me (a ten minute walk from my apartment) because I'm cheap and don't want to go buy stamps.
Since the post office is being currently gutted, I'll be damn sure to show up to in person early voting masked and gloved .
Not sure. I'll vote at a polling place, if that's on option, though.
I can request an absentee ballot by mail for any reason, and I'm pretty sure I can even send it in by mid-September.
However, my state has surprisingly good early in-person voting, which I've taken advantage of every year since 2016, so I expect I'll go that route just so I don't have to worry about the USPS.
Where I live (a blue county in a toss up/red leaning state), our Supervisor of Elections makes it easy to vote by mail. You fill out a form online in 5 minutes and then your ballots show up automatically by mail 30 days before Election Day from then until the next general election (so up to four years).
They don't even ask for a reason. You just request one and they show up.
Our county is also sending out a mass mailing to every single resident letting them know that they can easily sign up to vote by mail.
They also have a secured drop box outside of the Supervisor of Elections office where you can drop mail in/absentee ballots up off up until the time polls close on Election Day. So you can request a mail in ballot, drop it off in the box without waiting and not worry about getting stuck waiting at a polling place for hours.
My location not only will be sending absentee ballots to everyone, but will have drop off spots for them so we don't even have to use the mail to send them. It's very nice.
Oregon, baby! We've been voting by mail since 1998. As of last year we don't even have to pay for postage. 80% turnout in the 2016 elections, and lo and behold - no voter fraud. 😮
It appears they're gonna do, literally, unapologetically, absolutely nothing.
The first Google search result for "voto por correio" (vote by mail, PT-BR) was an autocomplete for "eua" (USA) and after bouncing around a few news websites I found no mention of our public mail service.
What I found when it comes to precautions was widening ballot operation hours, creating a "special time" for old people and other particularly endangered people to vote in (vaguely signaled to be when less people are voting, i.e early in the morning,
LMFAO) and mandating mask-wearing and alcohol in gel in polling stations and in most cases, delaying the election by a month.But I found nothing about mail-in ballots.
So there will basically be no vote by mail in our municipal elections.
And the most insane thing is, since it's not a national/federal election, the president has said nothing and postal voting is basically unknown by the public. It's not even part of the conversation here.
Been a permanent vote by mail resident for awhile